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Ah, yes, that classic confusion of "who" and "whom"; "whoever" and "whomever." It's fairly simple; just a subject/object thing. The choice is determined by the grammar of the clause within which the pronoun occurs. Simply put, use the he/him method to decide which word is correct. With "who" and "whom," think of it as he = who; him = whom For instance: "Who/Whom wrote the letter?" "He wrote the letter" is obviously correct; therefore, who is the right word. "Whom" is the objective case of "who." For instance: "For who/whom should I vote?" You'd say, "Should I vote for him?" Thusly, whom is correct. Now, with less simple sentences, such as "We all know who/whom pulled that prank," where you have multiple clauses, you must examine each one. The second clause contains the "who/whom" quandary, but it is easily resolved: "He pulled that prank." "Who" is correct. Conversely, with "We want to know on who/whom the prank was pulled," the second clause again contains the who/whom, but with different results. The prank was pulled on him. Therefore, "whom" is correct. It's the same with "whoever/whomever"; you again use the him/he=whoever, him/him = whomever rule. Here's a classic: "Give it to whoever/whomever asks for it." You might think it should be "whomever," but no. "Give it to him. He asks for it." So it's "Give it to whoever asks for it." Then you have "We will hire whoever/whomever you recommend." It's "We will hire him. You recommend him"; so "whomever" is correct. But now. When the entire whoever/whomever clause is the subject of the verb following the clause, you must examine the clause to determine whether to use whoever or whomever. For instance: "Whoever is elected will serve a four-year term." "Whoever is elected" is the subject of "will serve." "Whoever" is the subject of "is." Now, for an example using "whomever": "Whomever we elect will serve a four-year term." "Whomever we elect" is the subject of "will serve." "Whomever" is the object of "we elect." See? Just subjects and objects. It's not so difficult at all. |